Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Grrrr, I'm still not liking the new Blogger set up. My pictures have uploaded in a strange order and I don't have time to faff around moving and trying to recentre them. I'm not even supposed to be here, I should be hoovering and tidying up and all that stuff. Never mind, I just wanted to post some pics from last week before it was too late. So here we go, even more random than usual, how exciting...

I made the chicken with almonds and apricots again and this time I wasn't in such a rush so managed a photo. I've also found a link to the recipe (a little modified) here if anyone fancies trying it. It's yummy.

The first rhubarb from the garden. I think some rhubarb shortbread will be appearing this afternoon.

These snails are no longer in my garden. They're enjoying life (while it lasts) in the compost wheelie bin. A small effort to make my hostas less holey this year. It's the slugs I really need to get, they'll not photograph so well though methinks.

Charity shop bargains. Used lego spacecraft sets, £1.25 the lot. I thought they'd be good for parts but to my amazement every single piece was present and correct. It must come form a very well organised home, well done that Mum! They are displayed on my new table cloth from the same charity shop, pushing the boat out a little at £3.99 but a bargain compared to buying one new. Though if I'd spent the extra money I could have got one that matched the curtains better. Still, we feel most sophisticated having summer (this one) and winter (the red polka dot one) table configurations.

Now we're at a park for a tree branch shadow photo.

Prior to going to the park we popped into another charity shop. Some fabric for the patchwork quilt (£1), a What to Look For in Winter book (10p - just the Autumn one to find now), and a strangely smelly but very pretty jug (£3.50, gulp, but I liked it, and it's for a good cause...)

Now some photos from a real wander...

The End is at the beginning. Sadly I see some numptie has obliterated my favourite grafitti motif here, the little polka dot heart you can see in the middle of this post. At least I have a photo of it I suppose.

The view from the bridge.

You have to climb up high to see it.

Turquoise and brown, a rather nice colour combination.

Chimney pots and jackdaws. Similar, but not the same as the ones we see from our back door.

It's a long push up the street.

I like when other bloggers post photos of streets near where they live. What may seem so ordinary to a local can be foreign and exotic to a stranger. (OK, "exotic" might not apply here specifically!)

Does anyone know what this shrub is? It has lovely star shaped white flowers and copper coloured leaves. I want one!

Now back home. I was going to polish this pair of A's shoes for passing on to a friend as they no longer fit. However, I rather liked the scuffed toes and was reminded of the image on the front of this book which has made me feel sentimental about them so they're back on the shoe shelf at the moment.

Right, where are we now. A roly poly image of N's striped blanket, the Garish One. Some days I love it, some days I'm just not sure. My Dad says he'd get a migraine if he had to look at it for too long. I've enough yarn left for another eight or so stripes, then it will be border time. The ends for this one are not a problem as there as so few on a stripey blanket when compared to a granny blanket. So another TaDa coming fairly soon I hope.

Lastly, we're back at the tree on the corner. Thank you for all the comments on the post I did of the photos through the year. I made a little mosaic of the images I thought best represented Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. I think the tree is an ash tree. I always meant to check the leaves to confirm but I can see why now I haven't done so as there are only leaves on the tree for two months of the year. The effects of season changes are best seen in the fields round about, the tree itself is almost always bare. A shame in a way, as it would have been lovely to have one which showed some Autumn colours. Not to worry.

Saturday, 21 April 2012

We awoke to a lovely sunny morning. Rain was forecast for later so I set off early at about 07:20 to catch the best of the weather.

Passing the field at the top of the village I notice it to be filled with ewes and their lambs.

I like the little ridge of trees you can see in the distance. The last of the daffodils are brightening up the foreground.

More daffodils, they'll be gone soon for another year.

Tada! An April shot of the tree at the corner. First mission accomplished. I then set off for my second bike ride mission, the location of which is not quite so close by...

Posing rook.

Sheep roundabout.

Dry stone dyke in front of a sunny field of cows and their calves.

Past the soldiers.

Lovely views over the wonky fence to the rolling fields.

The road ahead. Great clouds today!

A favourite view with the long cottage on the right.

Two trees and puffy clouds.

On to a B road now. Still quiet as it's early. Looking South, the direction I'm headed.

Same spot looking East towards the sun. Pregnant ewes wander away from me and my camera.

Same spot, looking back and to the North. Look, there's a car!

After puffing and panting my way uphill for a couple of miles I finally reach The Top. I'm so chuffed I even start singing that song, you know, by The Carpenters, altogether now...

Lovely wide open spaces. After a little while the road descends, it's smooth and straight. Hmmm, I do actually say "wheeeee" as I glide downhill.

Getting closer to my objective now. Here we're looking over the loch from the path that leads to the back of the woods.

We've arrived and, well, I'm too early, as I thought I might be. The bluebells here are only just starting to flower, you can see a few blooms if you look very closely. I'll need to wait at least another week to accomplish the bluebell project. I carry on and push my bike up the path.

A little tricky but we made it.

Some more pushing and we're at the very top of the hill looking back down over the loch. Once back down the other side the path becomes easier and I'm able to cycle again.

Out the woods, along this pretty landrover track, on to the cycle path then home.

After parking my bike in the shed I take some photos of the garden. I'm glad I do. The mossy saxifrage was looking most pretty...

... till this afternoon. We'd been to a party. Driving home felt like being in a time machine as we passed through the next town to find slush on the road and cars covered in what looked like snow - odd to be thrown so unexpectedly back to winter. Our village was also affected and our garden was white. It was just a very heavy hail storm. But look at my plants!

First post in the new blogger format. So glad I know a little bit of html or I'd probably be flinging the computer out the window by now!

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

There are certain images I like to photograph regularly when out on my bike and the view of the tree at the corner is one I photograph frequently. I have photos for every month of the year except April (I know where I'll be going on my bike ride this Saturday!) and January (which will take a little longer to sort out...)

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About Me

I like taking photos. Mainly it seems I take photos of the ever-changing countryside I see on my bike rides and of crocheted things I've made. Plus lots of other random everyday stuff. Thank you for visiting! Anne.